Kawasaki Reveals The Fastest Bullet Train in Japan

Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. recently announced that it is developing the country’s fastest high speed train! Named the “Environmentally Friendly Super Express Train” (efSET), the modern marvel will propel passengers along at 217 miles per hour, besting the record-holding Shinkansen‘s 186mph. The streamlined design also promises to be less noisy, more energy efficient, and will feature a state-of-the-art electrical control system.

The introduction of Kawasaki‘s new high-speed train stands to improve upon Japan’s standing rail system, already considered to be one of the most efficient in the world. The efSET will feature an extremely lightweight and aerodynamic profile in addition to a regenerative braking system that will recycle the kinetic energy generated by its movement.

Kawasaki plans to finalize the design by March 2010, and the company has already announced that it plans to prepare the efSET for international release. They estimate that 10,000 km of high-speed railways will be deployed over the next 20 years – lets hope some of those lines fall within the United States!

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4 Comments

[...] Yes, we have a lot to learn from the Japanese. Not content to rest on their laurels after creating a space age transport system while we were still agog at the capabilities of the original Mini (lovely little car – but not going to take you to Mars) they are now refining it to near-perfection. [...]

[...] were reading Mike Chino’s post on Inhabitat yesterday about Kawasaki’s plans for a new, faster, more energy-efficient bullet train in [...]

Steve N. LeeSeptember 19, 2008 at 2:32 am

This could be a great step forward if other countries would adopt this technology.

As Hockeyfan says, such fast trains could replace some airline routes. Okay, the trains don’t travel as fast as a plans – not far of half the speed, but still ‘very’ slow in comparison. That said, it’s a train. Usually train stations are easier to reach than airports; there isn’t all the waiting about and faff that’s involved in air travel; nervous flyers would have a real alternative; but most importantly, that reduced speed isn’t such a problem when you’re talking about short flights, especially as a train can probably – I’m no engineer! – accelerate to and deccelerate from top speed much quciker and easier than a plane can. All this means that to travel on short routes it may be as quick to go by train as by plane. Great news.

I’ve actually been on Shanghai’s high-speed train, the Maglev. That hits speeds of over 400kmh. It’s a surprisingly quiet and smooth ride. And fun too – there’s a digital readout in each carriage that shows the current speed. People take photos of it. Even applaud when it hits the top speed.

Yes, if this was rolled out globally, it could be of tremendous benefit in our fight for the environment.
Steve N. Lee
author of eco-blog http://www.lionsledbysheep.com
and suspense thriller ‘What if…?’

HockeyFanSeptember 18, 2008 at 10:44 am

It would certainly be nice to have high speed rail routes to equal some of the high traffic air routes we have now. this would eliminate the need for the air routes and drastically reduce our need for inefficient air travel.